Trip to Disney World December 2010

We had the first Kevin and Karen Rackham family reunion this year and did it in style. Lexi has always wanted to meet Mickey Mouse at his house and so we'd been talking about taking her to Disney World to celebrate her 13th birthday for the last few years. Nana and Poppy loved the idea, rented a house for the week down there and took all of their kids and grandkids to Disney for a week. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! This trip would not have been possible without their generosity in funding the majority of the trip for everyone. We've finally picked out some of our favorite pictures so here are the slide shows. For some reason the slideshows are backwards in spite of numerous attempts to fix them. Sorry
TRIP DOWN AND DAY 1 @ MAGIC KINGDOM

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS & EPCOT

ANIMAL KINGDOM

LAST DAY @ MAGIC KINGDOM AND TRIP HOME

Ellie's nuffins

Ellie: "Daddy may I please have more nuffins [muffins]?"
Daddy: Gets her one muffin (because she's already eaten 3 this morning) and hands it to her. When she doesn't say please, asks "What do you say?"
Ellie: "I want four nuffins!"

At least we found something she'll eat. This little girl has the oddest appetite. She loves chicken nuggets, hot dogs, avocado, mini muffins, and chocolate.

Snowman Party

Leah is very creative. The kids are still too young to have much fun playing out in the snow... or maybe Mom and Dad just don't want to go out in the snow with them. Brrrr. It is probably a bit of both. So Leah decided to have a snowman party. The kids made snowman hats, ate melted snowman soup and melted snowman cookies, and made snow globes out of baby food jars.

Kevin and Karen Rackham Family

We had a wonderful time in Florida with Leah's parents and all of their kids and grandkids. This picture was taken after an African dinner at a restaurant at the Animal Kingdom resort. Thanks so much Poppy and Nana for a wonderful trip and awesome memories! More pictures to come of the kids meeting their favorite characters.

It's So Hard to Say Good-Bye

We had to say good-bye to our OBGYN Dr. Hoekstra. He and his wife are moving their practice to Oklahoma. Dr. Tim delivered Ellie and Michael and I had intended for him to deliver all of our babies. Oh well. He will be missed.

Our Resident Elton John

Poor Ellie

We went to an appointment and they had to check Ellie's iron level. The first poke didn't work so they had to it again. She did great but was concerned after the band aids were put on.

Sweet Mikey

Tiny Ellie

Silly Mikey

Ellie: "I'm riding a turkey!!!"

Ellie and Mikey went on their first carousel ride together. Ellie got on an ostrich and was so excited to be riding the turkey that we didn't have the heart to correct her. We were with some friends and she is yelling to Mommy, Auntie Shanoa and her friends Noah and Nea.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Here are some photos from our Thanksgiving Dinner. We had the Cusick family over and had a great time.

The turkey brine from The Pioneer Woman. This recipe is on Food Network's website.

SO Golden. It was super juicy! Brian was weary of the brine but approved after wards.

Brian's Mom's homemade stuffing with Brian's touch, the cranberries.

Green bean casserole. This was the worst I have ever made.

Gravy from the drippings. Brian had to rescue them before they burnt off.

MMMMM! Sweet Potatoes. Brian said that there should be equal parts brown sugar to potatoes. I stopped him.

Happy Birthday to my Love!!!!

Happy Birthday Brian!!! I love you with all of my heart! You are a great father, friend, and Priesthood holder. I hope this next year is filled with many great blessings. (Is that selfish since I will be benefiting too?)

Silver Bells

Before Thanksgiving, we went to Lansing for the Capital's Silver Bells celebration. My Uncle is in charge of getting the tree. We got together with him and my Aunt to watch the parade. Because he is in charge of the tree, he puts out chairs for the family that donated it. There were enough chairs for all of us to sit in front of the barriers along the parade route. It was awesome to be right up front and in chairs. We didn't have to worry about where Alexis was or how her legs were doing. It was perfect for Ellie and Mikey to see as well. Thank you so much Uncle Steve!

Mikey didn't like being in the stroller.

He had a better time when he was out.

Brian helped take down the chairs. What a boyscout!

This is Alexis at dinner after wards. She just kept doing this over and over. I guess what ever keeps you entertained and not bugging your siblings is fine with me.

The kids really liked the parade. We were glad and got really excited for Disney World.

Our Front Door - Christmas

Don't mind the diaper pail, we live here.

I just kept it simple. I used one of the center pieces I made for the Ward Christmas party and put it on the front porch. I really like it. It makes me happy to see it when I drive into the driveway.